Use of "More" and "Less" in Conservation: A Semantic Differential Analysis.

Harasym, Carolyn R.; And Others

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between conservation status and relational terms by means of the semantic differential. Sixty-one children classified according to Piaget's three levels of conservation development judged the relational terms "more" and "less" on concrete semantic differential scales. It was found that Logical Conservers were able to distinguish between "more" and "less" better than either Intuitive Conservers or Non-Conservers, and that there was an apparent developmental progression in the use of these terms reflecting Piaget's stages of conservation attainment. These findings have particular relevance to verbal methods of assessing conservation ability. (Author)